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Hundreds of Turkish troops backed by tanks took part in an overnight operation into neighboring Syria to evacuate dozens of besieged soldiers guarding an Ottoman tomb and remove the remains amid fears the shrine was threatened by Islamic State militants. The mission late Saturday, saving Turkish soldiers reportedly stuck for months at the tomb of the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, was the first such major military incursion by Turkey since the Syrian conflict began in March 2011. Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said nearly 600 Turkish soldiers on some 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers crossed into Syria near the border town of Kobani late Saturday, as...

Related "Syrian Civil War" Articles

Hundreds of Turkish troops backed by tanks took part in an overnight operation into neighboring Syria to evacuate dozens of besieged soldiers guarding an Ottoman tomb and remove the remains amid fears the shrine was threatened by Islamic State...

As the Islamic State group tries to expand and take root across the Middle East, it is struggling in Syria — part of its heartland — where it has stalled or even lost ground while fighting multiple enemies on several fronts. Signs of tension and power...

Nearly four years since it began, Syria's civil war has defied all diplomatic attempts to broker a peaceful resolution. While the conflict has recently been overshadowed by the U.S.-led international battle against the Islamic State extremist group,...

Syrian rebels fought deadly battles with government forces north of the divided city of Aleppo on Wednesday as both sides sought to expand their ground amid a push by the U.N. envoy to the country to broker a cease-fire in the war-ravaged city. The...

The United Nations envoy to Syria said Tuesday he has received a commitment from the Syrian government to suspend airstrikes and artillery shelling on the city of Aleppo for six weeks to allow a proposed U.N. plan to "freeze" hostilities in...

For Kurdish fighters, last month's victory over Islamic State militants in the town of Kobani in northern Syria was only the beginning. Their ambition is to build on an alliance with moderate rebels in Syria and become the chief force fighting the...

The world may be gripped by the horrors perpetrated by the Islamic State group, but a wider bloodbath provoked by Syria's civil war is continuing unabated, with several hundred people killed in the past week alone. Syrian opposition activists said...

A rebel shelling barrage targeting Damascus, Syria, early Thursday left at least five people dead and scores wounded, according to government and opposition accounts.
The attack was the second major rocket and mortar strike in recent weeks on the...

Jordanian F-16 warplanes struck Islamic State targets Thursday in retaliation for the gruesome slaying of a military pilot, officials said, signaling an apparent escalation of the kingdom's role in the U.S.-led coalition against the militant group.“The...

Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, the powerful U.S. ally who fought against al-Qaida and sought to modernize the ultraconservative Muslim kingdom, including by nudging open greater opportunities for women, has died. He was 90.More than his guarded and...

One is an independent journalist who traveled to the Middle East apparently in pursuit of his next big story. The other is seemingly a man adrift, on a quest for a new life after becoming homeless in Japan.
The two Japanese men threatened with death by...

The main al-Qaida affiliate in Syria is extending its control over a swath of territory that was until recently held by the collapsing moderate opposition, jeopardizing U.S. plans to form a new rebel force to fight extremists.
Since routing two of the...

In the wake of a video purporting to show a child executing two prisoners, Islamic State militants released images Thursday of toddlers practicing their skill with toy guns.
"Lions cubs ... raised in the land of the Caliphate," the caption...

The Pentagon is investigating how hackers claiming to be aligned with Islamic State took over U.S. military social media accounts Monday and released more than half a dozen documents, some with the home addresses of retired generals.
The invasion of...

When the snow started falling this weekend, the tail end of a tremendous winter storm that had killed several Syrian refugees in recent days, hundreds of people camped at an abandoned sugar factory here rushed to save their makeshift tents patched with...

A Jordanian F-16 jet crashed Wednesday in an area of northeastern Syria under the control of Islamic State militants, who quickly captured the pilot, according to statements from both sides.
Jordan is part of a U.S.-led coalition that has been conducting...

It's an organization most everyone loathes — except, of course, for its fanatical supporters — but few seem quite sure what to call it. ISIL? ISIS? IS?
Islamic State, the homicidal Al Qaeda breakaway faction that has declared a "caliphate"...

The United States and Arab allies bombed Syria for the first time on Tuesday, killing dozens of Islamic State fighters and members of a separate al Qaeda-linked group, pursuing a campaign against militants into a war at the heart of the Middle...

The United States and its Arab allies bombed Syria for the first time on Tuesday, killing scores of Islamic State fighters and members of a separate al Qaeda-linked group, opening a new front against militants by joining Syria's three-year-old civil war....

Since declaring a caliphate, Islamic State has garnered support from more than a dozen Islamist militant groups in the Middle East and Asia, but the dearth of endorsements by many of the largest and most recognizable groups serves to underscore the limits...